
Book ' 



OBITUARY ADDRESSES 



DELIVERED UPON THE OCCASION 



OF THE 



RE-INTERMENT OF THE REMAINS 



OP 

% 
• \ 

GEN. CHAS. SCOTT, MAJ. ¥M. T. BARRY, AND 

CAPT. BLAND BALLARD AND ¥1FE, 



(n %i €im\i\\ at /rankfort, 



NOVEMBER 8. 1854. 



FRANKFORT. KENTUCKY. 

A. G. HODGES, STATE PRINTER. 

1865. 



£^: 



b •T'^ <-■ ^ 






RE-INTERMENT, 



The General Assembly of Kentucky, at the session 
of 1853-4, adopted resolutions directing the Governor 
to cause the remains of General Charles Scott, Major 
William T. Barry, and Captain Bland Ballard and 
Wife to be re-interred in the grounds belonging to the 
State in the Cemetery at Frankfort. All the necessary 
arrangements having been made, His Excellency, Gov- 
ernor Powell, appointed Wednesday, November 8 th, 
1854, as the day for the ceremonies of re-interment. 
The proceedings of that occasion were described as fol- 
lows in the Commonwealth of November 10th: 

"Wednesday, the 8th of November, 1854, was a 
great day in Frankfort, and one not soon to be forgot- 
ten. The last and distinguished honors provided by 
Kentucky for three men who had served her cause, in 
the council and in the field, and whose lives had con- 
tributed to the glory of her history, were paid with be- 
fitting circumstance, in the presence of an immense 
crowd of Kentucky's sons and daughters. 

"Strangers began to arrive on Tuesday, and on 
Wednesday morning every avenue leading to our little 
city poured in a living stream. The public square, 
streets, side-walks, hotels, and private houses were soon 
swarming with the crowd. Among those present were 



a great many of Kentucky's noblest sons — men dis- 
tinguished upon the field of battle, and men distinguish- 
ed in almost every department of public service and 
of life — in the Executive chair, in Congress, in the 
Legislature of the State, upon the bench, at the bar, at 
the bedside of the sick, in the sacred desk, in the edi- 
torial office, in mercantile pursuits, and in the mechanic 
arts. Kentucky beauty was well represented in maid- 
en loveliness and matronly grace ; and the whole blend- 
ing together formed an immense concourse of just such 
men and women as would have swelled the hearts of 
the honored dead with gratitude and joy could their 
mortal eyes have opened upon them. 

"The procession formed about eleven o'clock, and 
slowly moved its long length towards the Cemetery. In 
it we noticed a number of the officers and soldiers of 
the war of 1812, and of the war with Mexico ; a dele- 
gation of officers from the Louisville Legion, under 
command of Col. DeKorp may ; a fine volunteer com- 
pany from Georgetown, commanded by Capt. Grant ; 
the Cadets of the Kentucky Military Institute, com- 
manded by Col. Morgan ; several Lodges of Odd Fel- 
lows ; several Divisions of the Sons of Temperance ; 
the pupils of Mr. Sayre's High School, and an innu- 
merable throng of citizens and strangers in carriages. 
The march of the whole was enlivened by excellent 
music from Arbogast's and Plato's Saxhorn Bands, of 
Louisville, whose performances throughout the day add- 
ed greatly to the enjoyment of the occasion. 



5 

"Upon the Cemetery grounds a platform for the 
speakers had been erected near the beautiful tomb of 
the Trabue family, and facing a gentle slope which 
rose like an amphitheatre around it. Hero the exer- 
cises were opened with prayer by the Rev. Dr. John 
D. Matthews. Governor Powell then introduced the 
further proceedings by a brief and appropriate address, 
and concluded by presenting to the audience Col. Thom- 
as L. CRiTTbiNDEN, who delivered an oration of classic 
elegance and marked appropriateness, upon the life and 
character of Gov. Charles Scoit. After music from 
the band, Col. Theodore O'Hara was introduced and 
delivered a glowing, eloquent, and ornate eulogy upon 
Maj. Wm. T. Barry. To this succeeded a speech from 
Col. Humphrey Marshall, upon the life and character 
of Maj. Bland Ballard— an effort marked by discrim- 
inating fidelity to truth, by great propriety and force 
of diction, and a nervous manly elocution, which won 
new laurels for the well known orator. 

"After the close of the speeches, the remains were 
re-interred in the grounds belonging to the State ; Rev. 
Mr. Norton, of Frankfort, and Rev. Mr. Berkley, of 
Lexington, officiating in the closing religious services. 

"The numbers who were present have been variously 
estimated at from three to five thousand persons." 



GOV. POWELL'S 



INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS 



Fellow Citizens : In obedience to the resolutions of 
the Legislature of Kentucky, I have caused the re- 
mains of the late Gov. Charles Scott, the late Hon. 
William Taylor Barry, and the late Major Bland 
Ballard and Wife to be brought here for re-interment. 

We are engaged in the mournful but pleasant duty 
of removing the remains of our beloved sires from far- 
ofi' and neglected graves, and bringing them here for 
sepulcher. It is eminently proper that the mortal re- 
mains of Kentucky's distinguished dead should find a 
last resting place in this beautiful Cemetery, that over- 
looks the capital of the State. All classes of our peo- 
ple have turned out to pay a just tribute of respect 
to the illustrious dead. Citizens distinguished in every 
walk of life are here ; the learned professions ; profes- 
sors and their scholars ; the mechanic and the husband- 
man ; the merchant and the tradesman ; have ceased 
their usual vocations for this day. 

I am delighted to greet so many of the gallant sol- 
diers of the war of 1812, who have assembled from va- 
rious parts of the state to pay a last tribute of respect 



8 

to their deceased brothers in arms. The school boy 
will learn from the recital of the history of the emi- 
nent citizens whose funeral rites we now perform, that 
they have examples other than those .they find in an- 
cient lore — in Grecian or Roman history — worthy of 
their imitation. We would be degenerate sons of as 
noble an ancestry as the world ever knew, were we not 
to cherish the memories of those illustrious citizens 
who devoted their lives to their country's service. 
True, their memories and virtues live embalmed in our 
hearts, but their services to their country, the patriotic 
devotion of their time and talents to the service of 
the State, justly entitle them to monumental honors at 
our hands, and we have properly decreed them. It is 
for the benefit of the living, not the dead, that these 
honors are conferred. Many an ambitious youth, on 
visiting this spot, will be fired with a loftier patriotism, 
and rejoice that he has a life to devote to the service 
of a State that thus reveres the memory of her bene- 
factors. We will rear upon the sod, under which their 
ashes lie, the monumental column, upon which will be 
inscribed their names and their deeds ; and our chil- 
dren, in all time to come, will make their pilgrimage 
here, and read upon the silent marble the touching 
memorials. 

I trust the day will come when a stranger visiting 
this place will read in the inscriptions upon the tombs 
an epitome of Kentucky's history. Already the remains 
of many of our distinguished dead lie here. The re- 



maius of our first pioneer, Daniel Boone, and his wife, 
here find a resting place; and the State, with that de- 
votion which a fond parent delights to pay to a brave 
and noble offspring, has brought home the remains of 
her .gallant soldiers who fell in the war with Mexico, 
and interred them in that beautiful mound, and erected 
to their memory a monument unsurpassed in grace, ele- 
gance, and beauty, which reflects honor alike upon the 
State and the memory of the dead. Thus we have 
here the remains of him who first marked the history 
of our State, and the remains of those gallant men who 
fell under our victorious flag in Mexico — the last offer- 
ing of virtue and patriotism made by this good old 
Commonwealth upon the altar of our national glory. 
To-day we are engaged in fifling up the interval in our 
history. We consign to the earth the remains of three 
citizens eminent for their virtues, patriotism, and pub- 
lic services. One a hero of the Revolution, a compan- 
ion of Washington, and one of the first and most re- 
vered governors of the Commonwealth ; another who 
was eminently distinguished in our early Indian wars 
and the war of 1812 ; the other, one of the most 
accompHshed statesmen and gifted and eloquent or- 
ators that this or any other State or country has pro- 
duced. 

It is not my purpose to speak of the lives and charac- 
ter of these eminent men. That office will be performed 
by others. Three eloquent gentlemen have been se- 
lected for that purpose ; they will perform the pleasing 



10 



task in a manner that will reflect more honor upon the 
dead, and be more satisfactory to you than I could do 
were I to make the effort. 



Governor Powell then introduced Col Thomas L. 
Crittenden, who delivered an address upon the life and 
character of Gen. Charles Scoit. 



ADDRESS OF COL. CRITTENDEN, 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF GEN. CHAS. SCOTT. 



The State of Kentucky, by an act of the last Legis- 
lature, appropriated funds to defray the expense of 
bringing to her capital the remains of three of her dis- 
tinguished sons, that they might be there buried with 
honors suited to their merit, and becoming the dignity 
of a great and grateful State. Governor Powell, to 
whom was intrusted the direction and management of 
this ceremony, with too high an estimate of my capaci- 
ty, has assigned me the honor of making such an ora- 
tion over the remains of General Scott as is customary 
on these occasions. Many things warn me that my ora- 
tion must be brief; and yet I have to sketch the life 
of a man who served his country with honor and re- 
nown, both in the tented field and in the council cham- 
ber, for more than half a century. I must recall to 
you some of those incidents in his eventful public ca- 
reer which won for him the confidence and esteem of 
his cotemporaries, and this high honor from posterity. 



12 

In this way, to my thinking, I shall best discharge my 
duty. For good deeds and great deeds outpraise all 
eulogists. 

It is a full century since General Scott began his 
public and patriotic services. One hundred years ago 
and these poor remains were clothed with the manly 
frame of Corporal Charles Scott, and the soldier's 
heart that ever dwelt in his bosom was stirred by the 
clang of arms and the terrible battle cry! In 1755, 
side by side with Washington, he fought in that disas- 
trous battle which resulted in the defeat and death of 
General Braddock. From this period till the Revolu- 
tion, I have not been able to trace his conduct in life. 
But when that great struggle began, he took at once, 
and manfully, as he did every thing, the side of justice 
and of freedom. He raised the first company of vol- 
unteers south of James river that ever entered into 
actual service. He so distinguished himself that a 
county in Virginia was named for him as early as 1777. 
Soon after this — to put the very stamp and seal of gen- 
uine patriotism and all soldierly qualities upon him — 
Washington himself appointed him to the command of 
a regiment in the Continental line. Again, and very 
soon, we find him a Brigadier General at the battles of 
Monmouth and Charleston. Doubtless it,would be very 
interesting to follow, step by step, through all his peril- 
ous life, the bold, blunt, strong-minded, natural man ; 
but I have not been able to find a biography of Gov- 
ernor Scott, nor indeed any detailed account of his life. 



13 

Just here and there, in times Avhen none but men are 
wanted, and at places where none but men are found, 
you will see his name. Starting, however, as he did, 
under the eye of Washington, and from the ranks, it 
is clear that his rapid and distinguished promotion was 
the result of good CDuduct and true merit. And now 
after almost thirty years of fighting, from the com- 
mencement of the French and Indian wars, under Gen- 
eral Braddock, to the close of our wonderful and glori- 
our Revolution, under Washington, General Scott re- 
moved to Kentucky, and settled in Woodford county 
in the year 1785. But the Indians still continued their 
depredations, and the veteran soldier could not repose 
even upon all his laurels while the women and children 
of his adopted State were exposed to the murderous 
and merciless savages. In 1791 he was with General 
St. Clair, at what has been well called a second Brad- 
dock's defeat. In 1793, he, seconded by General Wil- 
kinson, commanded a corps of Horsemen in a success- 
ful expedition against the Indian towns on the Wabash. 
In 1794 he commanded a portion of Wayne's army at 
the battle of the Fallen Timber, where the most effec- 
tive and brilliant victory was gained. And here, I be- 
lieve, after almost, forty years of warfare, the peaceful 
life of General Scott may be said to begin. He was no 
scholar. His school-boy days were stirring, busy, dan- 
gerous times. Education was a costly thing, and diffi- 
cult to be had at any price where he lived ; and be- 
sides, long ere he was a man in years, the camp was his 



14 

only school-house, and the rough trials of life his only 
teachers. The first elements of an education were all 
that he acquired at school. But to a man of his stamp 
and mind, every incident in life is a lesson, every op- 
portunity a teacher, and every day brings some wisdom. 
For there was about him a natural judgment which 
made him take a right view of things, and shaped al- 
ways his general course aright. 

He thought but little of himself No intrigue, no 
art was ever used by him to exalt himself in the pub- 
lic estimation. He felt the impulse, and he played his 
part. It was his noble nature to love his friends, but 
above all to love his country. In 1808, when most of 
his life was spent — after arduous services and long years 
had wasted the vigor and strength of his manly form, 
while his patriotism and his virtues had but been har- 
dened by exposure — with his intellect still unimpaired, 
he stood before the highest earthly tribunal. And then 
the people of Kentucky pronounced him their chief 
man. The people looked back over his long and well 
spent life — for all could mark his course, deeds having 
written his name on many pages of his country's his- 
tory — and finding no blot or stain upon his fame, they 
could not withhold their suffrages. No eloquence nor 
flattering tongue besought their support. The old sol- 
dier, with modesty unfeigned and real as his merit, 
thought the office of Governor too high a place for his 
ability, and too great a reward for his services. In the 
honesty of his soul he bluntly told the people, in the 



15 

brief speeches he made to them, that his competitor 
was far better qualified for the distinguished position 
than he was himself, but that if they would be foolish 
enough to elect him, he would do his best for them. 
He was almost unanimously elected ; and the same sin- 
gleness of purpose, the same fidelity and devotion to 
his country, which had marked his military conduct, 
characterized and distinguished his administration. He 
was the Governor of this State when war was declared in 
1812, and one of his last official acts as Governor was to 
commission General Harrison as Major General, and so to 
give him the command of the Kentucky troops. Be- 
fore the actual declaration of war, when our people were 
sufiering great abuse and outrage at the hands both of 
England and France, but especially of England, his 
messages teem with the most glowing and courageous 
patriotism. In 1810, in his message to the Legisla- 
ture, he says : "As we have but little to hope from the 
" justice of either of the belligerent powers, Great Brit- 
" ain or France, we should most earnestly prepare our- 
" selves to have as little to fear from their anger. Pre- 
" pared to do that justice which we ask, we should be 
'" prepared to enforce those rights which we claim." In 
1809, he says in another message: "Our arms pur- 
" chased our liberties, and by our arms must they be 
" defended. It is the order of nature and of fate." 
He deplores with a patriot's earnestness that blindness 
and fury of party spirit which would accomplish its own 
purposes and ends, forgetting in the ardor of political 



16 

strife the only object for which politicians and parties 
should seek, the true interest of the country. And it 
was also his sentiment, his real sentiment, for it always 
governed his conduct, that at the sacred call of duty 
all dangers dwindled into shadows. These were some 
of the incidents in this man's life, and these, and such 
as these, were the generous and noble sentiments which 
animated his heart. 

Let us remember that General Scott was a chief, 
even amongst the wondrous men of the Revolution — 
and that these men purchased all our blessings by the 
hardships they endured, by the bravery with which they 
encountered every danger, and by the blood which they 
spilt in our great cause. No living man can rightly 
claim so much gratitude from his countrymen, on the 
score of hard and perilous services rendered. He was 
a man to be remembered. The pens of Tacitus and 
Livy have made immortal the names of many Romans 
for a tithe of his achievements. We cannot command 
historians like these. Alexander himself, with the world 
at his feet, envied the fortune of Achilles in having 
Homer for his poet. And yet these distinguished dead 
whose funeral rites we celebrate to-day, could ask no 
other history of their lives than that which Kentucky 
wrote Avhen she decreed these honors to their memory. 
Could General Scott have foreseen this day, his brave 
old heart would have leapt with joy. Dangers have 
dwindled until not a shadow even is left. The excit- 
ing questions which roused every patriot heart, the 



17 

zealous and ardent support of friends, the angry and 
active resistance of opponents, are gone and almost for- 
gotten. How would it rejoice the heart of such a man 
to see the State whose perils were his own for so many 
years, reposing in that security he did so much to win 
for her! What joy to see his loved country, in her 
pride and power, remembering with grateful heart his 
services — honoring, as she does here, his memory, and 
engraving with her mighty hand his name and fame 
upon a page of her own history — declaring to all the 
world this was my son, my brave, true-hearted son; let 
all my children cherish his memory ; let their deeds be 
like his ! And this, in truth, Kentucky says to-day. 
I have heard somewhere of an English Captain who, 
when his decks were all cleared for action, just as he 
went into battle said to his men : "Now then, for victo- 
ry! or a tomb in Westminster Abbey ! " Kentucky can 
make this hill the very resting place of honor, and her 
free sons will make the battle-cry of life — Victory! or 
a tomb at the Capital ! 

Since the world began, no people have ever risen to 
power or splendor who have not cherished and striven 
to perpetuate the memory of their great men. The 
Jews, God's peculiar people, carried with them the bones 
of their benefactor, Joseph, in their pilgrimage through 
the wilderness. And David invokes a blessing upon 
the men who rescued and buried the remains of the 
mighty King Saul. The Egyptian monuments to their 
mighty dead, with hieroglyphic inscriptions which may 



18 



yet be deciphered, and reveal great names and myste- 
ries to the world, are everywhere renowned. These 
were great people— and their examples are worthy to 
be noted — to the one the world is indebted for the 
Bible, to the other for the Alphabet. Funeral ceremo- 
nies have differed among different nations; but no na- 
tion, whether barbarous or civilized, has neglected some 
mark of respect for the dead, or of honor for the dis- 
tinguished dead. The Greeks, of Athens, whose art 
and literature twenty centuries have not paralleled, 
gathered her chief men, and her soldiers too, from the 
fields where they fell in her defense, and buried them 
with public funerals of great pomp. Nor while they 
continued to bestow honors only on true merit, did they 
ever want a soldier or a sage. And Rome — whose in- 
stitutions were devised to inculcate chiefly the military 
virtues — to what a pitch of grandeur and power she 
attained by the honors she showered upon these vir- 
tues ! Her founder she deified. Her victorious gen- 
erals led chained Kings behind their cars as they drove 
its triumph through her streets. But when in her de- 
generacy she bestowed honors upon slaves, upon cour- 
tiers and servile flatterers, there came then a race of 
people, barbarians though they were, who still honored 
manhood, and they trod upon the neck of this once 
proud mistress of the world. And when Alaric died, 
the leader by whose skill and bravery these barbarians 
had trampled upon Rome, though no marble monu- 
ment, with high-sounding inscription, marks his grave. 



19 

yet in their rude way they honored him with a funeral 
ceremony whose memory will outlast the Pyramids. 
They made the captives he had taken in war turn 
from its course a river, and in the river's bed they laid 
their leader, and with him the spoils of nations ; then 
turning back the river to its channel, with barbarous 
hands they slew these captives, that no enemy might 
know the last resting place of their chieftain, nor foot 
of foe or stranger tread o'er his head when they were 
gone. It was their tribute to the only virtue they es- 
teemed — manhood. And thus, too, was Atilla buried 
by his furious Huns. It was the custom of the Scyth- 
ians to embalm their great dead, anc} carry them into 
every province of their dominions, that the very fea- 
tures and appearance of a mighty man should be fas- 
tened on the recollection of his country. These honors, 
so freely given by the barbarians to what they esteem- 
ed good and great, inspired, perhaps, the ambition of 
Atilla, who, from his rude palace in Hungary, ruled to 
the farthest confines of modern Russia, and exacted 
tribute from the degenerate Emperors of Rome and 
Constantinople. The French too, always devoted to 
glory, have done especial honor to the memory of their 
great soldiers — and they have had their Bonaparte. 
Tithes, and palaces, and monuments are freely given 
by England to her mighty men — and she has had her 
WelHngton. Our forefathers honored freedom most, and 
gave highest tribute from their hearts to those who were 
greatest in her cause — and we have had our Washington. 



20 

All things prove that the qualities which nations hon- 
or will be cultivated by their sons. Tyrants have prac- 
ticed most that state policy of rewarding those qualities 
they sought to cultivate in their subjects. These, for 
the most part, were not virtues, but vices, and they 
honored their favorites by robbing the people of their 
rights and possessions. We have the same need for 
virtue that dynasties and despotisms have for vice. 
Shall we do less for the great and righteous cause of 
freedom than has been done, time out of mind, for op- 
pression ? We have more to risk than all of them put 
together. In the language of Mr. Jefferson, the Amer- 
ican Republic is the world's best hope- We have more 
to give than all they have ever given, and yet not rob 
the poorest of a single right nor the smallest posses- 
sion. For the voice of praise to them that do well, 
when it comes spontaneously from a whole nation of 
freemen, is the patriot's only adequate reward on earth. 
The Ancients, with their Pagan notions of virtue, de- 
ified Honor, and built to their God a temple — in front 
of it they built a temple to Virtue, and through this 
alone was there an approach to the shrine of Honor. 
To us, more favored, God has revealed the right idea 
of virtue, which forbids the worship of honor, while it 
teaches us to esteem, seek after, and maintain it. 

Let Kentucky make this Cemetery her Temple of 
Honor, though she worships only God, and let her see 
that none approach its pure shrine but by the way of 
Virtue, and she will never want for heroes in the day 



21 

of battle, nor statesmen in the council chamber. And 
then our free institutions, which the old soldier now 
about to be interred endured so much to establish and 
maintain, shall extend their blessings to a thousand 
generations. Our posterity shall gather here, as we 
have done to-day, hundreds of years hence, to pay the 
last tribute to some mighty one, when every turf be- 
neath their feet shall be a great man's sepulchre. 



ADDRESS OF COL. O'HARA, 



XrPOX THB 



LIFE x\ND CHARACTER OF HON. ¥. T. BARRY. 



FiiLLOW-CiTiziiNs: The people of this Commonwealth, 
through their representatives in the last General As- 
sembly, ordered that the mortal remains of William 
T. Barry, which had rested in a foreign soil for eighteen 
years, be brought home to Kentucky, and re-interred 
with due honors in this Cemetery. In pursuance of 
that order, His Excellency, the Governor, very appro- 
priately dispatched the only and worthy son of its il- 
lustrious subject on the pious mission of recovering his 
father's remains ; and the interesting ceremonies of this 
day are designed in part to express the formal welcome 
of Kentucky to those honored ashes of one of her most 
cherished sons, on their arrival at this their destined 
abode. To me has been assigned the flattering part in 
these ceremonies of reciting the customary funeral me- 
mento of the illustrious personage I have named ; and 
well may I approach, with a tremulous and almost ap- 
palling diffidence, a theme which this grand pageant 



24 

and these imposing rites themselves announce as one of 
a most exacting import. 

The occasion which has brought us hither to-day, in 
its connection with the subject which it is my particular 
task to treat, is one of an unusual and most exalted 
interest. Although we shall deposit this venerated 
relic of one of Kentucky s most illustrious dead in its 
last resting place, it is yet something more grandly sol- 
emn and more sublimely sanctifying than his mere fu- 
neral obsequies that we are here to accomplish. We 
come not with hearts freshly rent by this bereave- 
ment, and eyes wet with the recent overflow of grief, 
to perform the last sad office to a loved and revered 
fellow-citizen, whose death has just desolated our bo- 
soms and dissolved our manhood with sorrow. No tears 
are here invoked; no wail of mourning mars the lofty 
grandeur of these rites. The value of the honors we 
have come to render, and the glory of him who is their 
object, are secure from those excessive manifestations 
which the extravngance of fresh afQiction might distort 
from the just proportion of his worth, and thus offend 
the dignity of his fame. The tribute we are here to 
pay is that which a people's cool sense of gratitude 
and justice, purified by time and separation from the 
bias of regret, or the partiality of personal attachment, 
dispassionately renders to exalted merit and appreciated 
public service. It is the tribute which the imperial 
power of a genius, undethroned by death, unweakened 
by the lapse of years, and unsubdued by the captivity 



25 



of a grave beyond the sea, has exacted from the still 
devoted subjects of its living sway. It is the tribute 
which an immortal eloquence, mingling its undying 
echoes in eternal harmony with her joyous anthem of 
freedom and peace and happiness, has won from the laud 
which it charmed with melody and fertilized with fame. 
It is the tribute which a burning patriotism, that glow- 
ed like the flaming sword of the Angel before the portal 
of this Eden of liberty has extorted from the grateful 
memory of the country which now garners these sacred 
ashes to her bosom with a rite so devout and so becom- 
ing. We are here, in pursuance of the solemn decree 
of this great Commonwealth, to execute upon these 
remains, as it were, that consecrating judgment of an- 
cient Egypt, which, upon a severe trial of her greatest 
worthies after death, and a cold scrutiny of their whole 
lives, admitted those of spotless fume and of the loftiest 
worth to the sublime repose of her everlasting pyra- 
mids. 

Such is the peculiar feature which exalts the gran- 
deur and solemnity of this occasion to an interest and 
a glory far higher than belong to the ordinary burial 
of one of our country's distinguished dead. No ! This 
is no funeral pageant in which we have mingled to-day. 
It is the triumphal return of an illustrious chieftain of 
the Commonwealth, whom we have come with tributary 
ceremonies to welcome home, from his accomplished ca- 
reer of glory, to the proudest recompense of public 
worth. And may we not boast that our dead hero has 



26 

marched here to his tomb to-day in a triumph more 
glorious than Rome's proudest conqueror ever enjoyed? 
He brings no spoils of vanquished nations. No trophies 
of victorious rapine adorn his progress. No fragrant 
cloud of incense canopies the proud scene; na captive 
princes swell the pompous spectacle. Yet who will say 
that the honors of that occasion, where the living and 
laureled chief, reeking from fields of slaughter, dranl^ 
the obsequious plaudit of the multitude, can compare 
with the glory of this purer and loftier triumph which 
Kentucky has awarded to her dead victor in the blood- 
less strifes of patriotism? 

In discharging the task assigned me here, it is not 
my purpose to attempt a eulogy of the man upon whom 
his country, in ordaining the honors of this day, has 
pronounced a panegyric that beggars all the ^resources 
of language. I will best perform my office in recalHng 
to your minds the events of that life which forms one 
of the proudest chapters of your country's history; in 
spreading before you the record of those patriotic ser- 
vices which claim your liveliest gratitude ; in develop- 
ing to your view the features of that character which 
challenges your most affectionate regard and remem- 
brance ; and in thus attuning your thoughts and emo- 
tions to the pitch that will most worthily harmonize 
with the lofty expression of these sublime ceremonies. 

William Taylor Barry was born in Lunenburg 
county, Virginia, on the 15th day of February, 1784. 
It is enough to say of his ancestry that his father was 



a soldier of the Revolution, who served with honor 
through that great struggle. Sprung from loins which 
the sword of Independence girded, and ushered into 
life while the shout that proclaimed the triumph of lib- 
erty was reverberating through his birth-land, it may 
be said that no fairer omens could have set their seal 
upon his infancy, and marked him for the high destiny 
which he vindicated. His father having removed to 
Kentucky in 1796, young Barry had the benefit of 
being trained from early boyhood amid those circum- 
stances of pioneer life, so well calculated to develope 
the noblest energies of our nature, and to give to the 
character that enduring stamp of freedom, vigor, and 
boldness which forms one of the chief elements of great- 
ness. Early indications of extraordinary capacity, and 
of that aspiring prowess of soul which betokens gen- 
ius, determined his father to give him the best advan- 
tages of education which he could command ; and ac- 
cordingly, having received the best education that could 
be obtained at the Kentucky Academy, in Woodford 
county, and Transylvania University, he entered upon 
the study of the law under the Hon. James Brown, 
since Minister toFrance, finishing his course of studies 
at the college of William and Mary, in Virginia. Thus 
prepared for the career which he was destined to pur- 
sue with such brilliant success, he estabhshed himself 
at Lexington, in the year 1805, at the age of twenty- 
one, and entered upon the practice of the law. • His 
instantaneous eminence in his profession is a striking 



28 

intimation, at that early age, and on the first trial of 
its powers, of that astonishing capacity and intuitive 
grasp of genius which he so wonderfully exemplified in 
the multitude and variety of the public employments 
he subsequently held, and which bore him always at 
once, and seemingly without an effort, to the summit 
of pre-eminence in all. The ability and eloquence dis- 
played in his first essays at the law, gave him rank at 
once with its ablest veterans, and secured for him, very 
soon after his admittance to the bar^ the appointment 
of Attorney for the Commonwealth in his circuit, a 
post in which he won the highest distinction. 

With his election to the lower branch of our State 
Legislature, in 1807 — as soon as he was ehgible — he 
commenced that brilliant political career, which, for the 
number and variety of the positions it embraces, the 
dramatic rapidity of its advancement and change of 
scene, the marvellous versatility of talent it indicates, 
and the extraordinary faculty of popularity which it 
exhibits, is altogether unrivalled in the history of any 
of the numerous eminent men that Kentucky has pro- 
duced. The distinguished capacity for the legislative 
service which he signalized during his first session in 
the House of Representatives, induced the people of 
Fayette to retain him in that position until his attain- 
ment of the requisite age enabled them to promote him 
to a wider field of usefulness ; and accordingly, he serv- 
ed several successive sessions in that body. During 
this service in the House of Representatives, and sub- 



29 

sequently in the Senate of the State, he established 
perhaps the most brilliant reputation as a State legisla- 
tor which the annals of our General Assembly exhibit. 
Stimulated and guided by a fervent patriotism, endued 
with an instinctive wisdom, and gifted with an impas- 
sioned and potent eloquence, he was the powerful ad- 
vocate of every measure that might best promote the 
welfare and happiness of the people, and the vigilant 
and bold champion of every principle essential to the 
safety, permanency and improvement of our institu- 
tions. He was essentially of that class of statesmen 
to whom mankind are indebted for all they enjoy of 
happiness resulting from the most enlarged political 
freedom. He was a reformer — one of those bold phi- 
losophers in the field of political science who are not 
satisfied with what has been already developed and 
achieved for human liberty and human happiness, and 
whose noble faith shrinks not from experiment from that 
craven fear of innovation which marks inferior minds. 
Much of the sagacious and salutary views of State pol- 
icy which he promulgated while in our Legislature con- 
stitute the oracle with whose borrowed wisdom many of 
our subsequent politicians have made their reputations. 
His excellent report upon the subject of a system of 
public education is a signal example of this truth. 
All of the most wholesome and approved counsels that 
have since been taken in our State on that important 
question, as well as all the best essays of later states- 
men upon it, are but a diffusion of the lights contained 



30 

in that admirable monument of statesmanship. Nor 
is it the least that may be recollected to the credit of 
his achievements as a Kentucky statesman, that we are 
indebted to him, in a great degree, for the establish- 
ment and enconragement of most of those institutions 
of public charity, as well as of learning, which mark the 
enlightened civilization of our noble Commonwealth. 

The high appreciation with which the people esti- 
mated the eminent ability and capacity for the public 
service which Mr. Barry had so early displayed, was 
manifested by his election in 1810, without opposition 
— on the occurrence of the first vacancy in his district 
after he had become eligible — to a seat in the House 
of Representatives of the United States. Although 
he served but a short time in that body — having declin- 
ed a re-election on the expiration of his term — he yet 
had time to vindicate his title to the first rank of states- 
men and orators, and to signalize that ardent patriot- 
ism which was the animating principle of his great 
powers. 

The nation was then in the abyss of that gloomy 
crisis, when, yet in her infancy, and slow to resentment 
from conscious weakness, she was groaning under the 
ruthless load of those insults and outrages by which 
Great Britain finally goaded her into the war of 1812; 
when pusillanimous counsels fettered the arm of ven- 
geance; when sectional selfishness and the bigotry of 
party opposed a relentless obstacle to that indignant 
sentiment that burned to redress the national honor; 



31 

and when all the energies of patriotism were demanded 
to prepare the public mind, and the resources of the 
country, forthe second struggle for Independence. In 
that critical juncture, so well calculated to "try the 
souls of men," no lips more burningly than the bold and 
ardent Barry's poured forth from the halls of Congress 
the fiery stream of patriotism, no voice more zealously 
or effectively than his assisted to kindle that spirit 
which, in the bloody lessons of Chalmette and the 
Thames, taught proud Britain "the might that slumbers 
in a freeman's arm." After the war was declared, and 
when the same unworthy opposition strove, by every 
means in their power, to thwart and embarrasa its pros- 
ecution, the same devoted patriot bent all his great 
powers to support it to an honorable and glorious ter- 
mination. Though not then in Congress, his voice was 
continually heard here at home, rousing the people of 
Kentucky to "their dearest action" in defense of the 
national honor, and counselHng the most efficient meas- 
ures to make her arm felt against the common enemy. 
Nor was his patriotism satisfied with the powerful 
service which he rendered the cause by his eloquent 
advocacy and zealous counsels. When the mournful 
disaster of the Raisin — in which the blossom of Ken- 
tucky's chivalry was cropped in so cruel a sacrifice — call- 
ed the glorious old Shelby to retrieve the Northwest- 
ern frontier, Mr. Barry accompanied him to the field in 
the capacity of an aide-de-camp; and, where death was 
busiest on the bloody day of the Thames, he approved by 



r" 



32 

deeds of noble dariog that devotion to country which 
had so often blazed in the burning torrents of his elo- 
quence. 

When the campaign of 1813 in the Northwest 
closed with the complete defeat of the British in that 
quarter, Mr. Barry returned home to resume his civic 
pursuits, with a new and livelier claim upon the admi- 
ration and gratitude of his countrymen, acquired by 
heroic self-devotion amid the severe duties of the camp 
and the stern perils of the battle-field. His admiring 
fellow-citizens of Fayette testified their sense of his 
meritorious services in the campaign by returning him 
again, at the first election, to the lower branch of the 
State Legislature ; and the high place which his dis- 
tinguished career in peace and war had won for him in 
the general esteem was evinced by his election as the 
Speaker of that body, and further by his promotion 
from that position, at an early period of the session, 
to a seat in the Senate of the United States. It is per- 
haps to be regretted, for the perfection of his public 
history, that he did not remain in that position longer 
than he did ; as, with endowments that certainly made 
him the peer in capacity of the greatest lights that 
have illustrated that august council, he would also, had 
he continued there, without doubt, have become their 
peer in national renown. But those tender claims which, 
with the noble and magnanimous heart, are stronger 
than the lust of ambition or the temptation of genius, 
called him down, after two years of service, from that 




33 

congenial eminence ; and, after Iiaying attained with 
giant strides and eagle swiftness almost the pinnacle of 
political advancement in this nation, he relinquished his 
high career in order to provide fur the necessities of his 
family. 

He now devoted himself particularly to the practice 
of his profession ; and, iu the continual encounter, du- 
ring the several succeeding years, with that famous 
band of forensic gladiators who made the bar of Ken- 
tucky at that day the most brilliant arena of legal abil- 
ity and eloquence in America, he won that distinction 
which is generally accorded him, of having been the 
greatest advocate that Kentucky has ever produced. 

The great abilities which he thus .continued to dis- 
play before the country rendered it^ however, impossible 
fur him to adhere to his purpose to devote himself ex- 
clusively, fur a time, to his private afliiirs. Continually 
suggesting his eminent fitness ior the public service, 
they served to increase the desire of the people for 
their employment in the public affairs; and he was con- 
strained, in consequence, to submit to a partial sacri- 
fice of his private interests in accepting a seat in the 
Senate of the State. I haVe already alluded to his dis- 
tinguished service in that position, which, however, he 
resigned, before the expiration of his term, upon the 
occasion of being appointed a Circuit Judge, which post 
he also resigned, after a short time, ia order to resume 
again the practice of his profession. 

5 



34 

But the insatiable appreciation of his fellow-citizens 
would not still allow him to withhold his great talents 
from their service. In 1820 the political party to 
which he belonged, desiring to avail themselves of his 
great eloquence and popularity, nominated him on their 
ticket for Lieutenant Governor. Regarding it ever as 
the duty of a good citizen, and the part of a patriot, to 
obey every call of his country, he undertook the candi- 
dature, and the ticket was triumphantly elected. 

He discharged the duties of presiding officer of the 
Senate of Kentucky in a manner to add to his already 
high column of reputation as a public servant, whilst 
he employed the intervals between the legislative ses- 
sions in winning the highest prizes of professional suc- 
cess at the bar. During a portion of this period, also, 
he filled the chair of Professor of Law in Transylvania 
University, and many of our most distinguished law- 
yers and statesmen of the present day caught their in- 
spiration from his oracular mind, and are the living mon- 
uments of his learning. 

At the succeeding election for Governor, he was 
strongly urged by his political friends to consent to a 
nomination for that office, but begged them, in view of 
the necessities of his private affairs, to dispense with 
his services for that occasion. He was constrained, 
however, by the irresistible solicitations of his party, to 
give them the benefit of his able counsels and active 
service under the new administration, which was cast 
upon a most tumultuous period in the history of our 



35 



State ; and accordingly he accepted the office of Secre- 
tary of State under Governor Desha, 

That memorable contest on the questions of Relief 
and the Old and New Courts, which so fearfully agitat- 
ed this Commonwealth, and in which Mr. Barry took a 
leading part, had arisen in the mean time, and was now 
at the height of its fury. On the one hand the people 
of Kentucky, agonizing under a most calamitous finan- 
cial pressure, were crying aloud in a voice of keen dis- 
tress for some measure of relief; on the other, an un- 
bending judiciary, repulsing legislative interposition be- 
tween the indebted and their creditors, ordered that 
the pound of flesh be paid, even though it should draw 
with it the vital blood. In such an issue it was natur- 
al that the generous-hearted Barry, whose bosom swell- 
ed with the largest humanity, and whose every impulse 
throbbed in sympathy with the people, should espouse 
the cause that proposed to alleviate their sufferings. 
It is not for me to discuss the merits of that celebrat- 
ed contest, nor does the fame of the illustrious man, 
whose public history I am tracing, require any apology 
for the part he bore in it — even were it true that he 
had, in the fullness of his sympathy with his suffering 
fellow-citizens, for once lost sight of a clear principle of 
constitutional law or wise policy. But the principles 
involved in that controversy were such as wise men 
would differ upon equally much at this day, and, al- 
though the people of Kentucky finally decided against 
the views which Mr. Barry maintained in relation to 



36 

them, may it not still be doubted if these opinions were 
erroneous, which were held in common with such lumi- 
naries of jurisprudence, statesmanship and patriotism 
as Rowan, VAhh, Sharp, ILiggin, Bledsoe, and the like? 
Tlie New Court party being triumphant in the State, 
and the old Court of Appeals being legislated out by 
the emphatic command of the people at the polls, when 
a new Court came to be oro;anized, Mr. Barry was at 
once suggested, in view of his superior abilities and 
pre-eminent standing, for the position of Chief Justice. 
He hero gave perhaps the most remarkable proof of 
ins astonishing genius, in exhibiting at once that fa- 
miliar and profound knowledge of the law, in all its 
ample and recondite learning, which is usually only at- 
tained by great jurists through a lifetime of undivided 
application. Hurried onward, as he had been, from the 
very outset of his life, in a career of the most rapid 
and unceasing advancement and change of situation, 
through a more variegated series of employments and 
public trusts; involved in a constant and active connec- 
tion with politics ; pre-eminent as a legislator, orator, 
advocate, senator, soldier, and executive officer — that 
he should also, on taking his seat on the bench of one 
of the most distinguished tribunals in the nation, have 
shown himself at once completely and eminently equal 
to all its exigencies, is certainly one of the most prodi- 
gious manifestations of the power of a great mi id that 
has ever been witnessed in this Commonwealth, fruitful 
as it has been in great capacities. 



37 

The fierce contest between the Old and New Court 
parties, after having violently convulsed the State for 
several years, terminated, at length, however, in the 
reversal by the people of that decision which had given 
ascendency for some time to the party of the New 
Court; and one of those irresistible re-actions, which 
so frequently mark the restless energies of the popular 
mind, involved this party in an overwhelming defeat. 
The old order of things was restored, and the Court 
question was an extinguished volcano, whose surviving 
fires, nevertheless, served to impart a fiercer heat to a 
new strife which had broken out in the meantime, and 
in which they mingled and merged — the exciting strug- 
gle which grew out of the casting of the vote of Ken- 
tucky by her Representatives in Congress for John 
Quincy Adams for President in 1825. In that contest 
the Old and New Court parties respectively identified 
themselves with the Adams and Clay party and the 
Jackson party, and Mr. Barhy became theleader of the 
latter, as Mr. Clnv was of the former. Mr. Barry's 
party was thus at the disadvantage of lying under the 
pressure of the recent disastrous defeat which it : ad 
suffered on the Court question, and against it was ar- 
rayed all the influence of that great man to whom Ken- 
tucky has shown a more passionate and enduring devo- 
tion than to any other. The struggle for the election 
of a Governor came on in 1828, and the Jackson party 
nominated Mr. B.arrv as their candidate, while the can- 
didate of the Clay and Adams party was Mr. Metcalfe, 



38 

a veteran Representative in Congress, and a very pop- 
ular man. The history and results of that contest fur- 
nish the most signal exemplification of the immense 
intellectual and moral resources of Mr. Barry. His 
career on that occasion somewhat resembles that un- 
paralleled rally of the great Napoleon, when, from the 
very depth of discomfiture on the isle of Elba, he was 
enabled, by the magic of his imperial genius, within the 
short space of an hundred days, to confront the hosts of 
combined Europe, and to come within a mere accident 
of conquering them. Mr. Barry took the field against 
a triumphant and powerful adversary, burdened with 
the late severe defeat of his party, and bearing all the 
odium of his own prominence in the Court controversy; 
yet such was the potency of his eloquence, the weight 
of his character, and the strength of his hold upon the 
affections and confidence of the people of Kentucky, 
that, in spite of all the disadvantages which he had to 
buffet with, he was only beaten by seven hundred votes. 
This was certainly in itself a great triumph, but it is 
not the extent of the triumph he achieved. He had 
by his powerful canvass of the State so turned and di- 
rected the tide of popular sentiment, that although the 
gubernatorial election occurred too soon to give himself 
the benefit of the re-action, the effect of that canvass 
contributed, in the greatest measure, to give the vote 
of Kentucky to the candidate of his party for the pres- 
idency — General Jackson— the ensuing November, by 
eight thousand majority. 



39 

Here ended the career of this illustrious patriot iu 
connection with the immediate politics of Kentucky — 
a career, from its commencement to its close, and 
through all its changeful and exciting vicissitudes, 
marked by all those high characteristics of mind and 
soul which constitute true greatness, and give the most 
imposing claim to the admiration, the gratitude, and 
the affectionate remembrance of his countrymen. The 
remainder of his life is associated with the history of 
the National Government. 

On his accession to the Presidency, General Jackson 
— with that discerning appreciation of the most avail- 
able ability and worth in his party which characterized 
him — called Mr. Barry into his cabinet to the position 
of Postmaster General. Here, as one of the most dis- 
tinguished of the council of Jackson, during the greater 
part of his incumbency, he is entitled to his full share 
of the fame of that glorious administration. His health, 
however, failing him under the wasting labors of the 
toilsome department over which he presided, he was 
forced to relinquish it before the administration termi- 
nated ; and General Jackson, unwilling entirely to lose 
the benefit of his able services, appointed him, in 1835, 
Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary to 
Spain, a post in which, while its dignity did not dispar- 
age his civil rank, it was hoped that the lightness of 
the duties, and the influence of a genial climate, might 
serve to renovate his impaired health. But it was oth- 
erwise ordained above. He had reached Liverpool on 



the way to his mission, when the great conqueror, at 
whoso summons the strongest minhooil, the noblest vir- 
tue, the proudest genius, and the brightest wisdom 
must surrender, arrested his earthly career on the 30th 
of August, 1835; and hero is. ail that is left to us of 
the patriot, the orator, tlie hero, the statesman, the 
sage — the rest belongs to Heaven and to fame. 

Such, fellow-citizens, is a most cursory and feeble 
memento of the life and public services of the illustri- 
ous man in whose memory Kentucky has decreed the 
solemn honors of this day. It is well for her that she 
has felt "the late remorse of love, ' and reclaimed these 
precious ashes to her heart, after they have slumbered 
so many years unsepultured in a foreign land; that no 
guilty consciousness of unworthy neglect may weigh 
upon her spirit, and depress her proud front with shume; 
that no reproaching echo of that eloquent voice that 
once so sweetly thrilled her, pealing back upon her soul 
amidst herprideful recollections of the past, may appal 
her in her feast of memory, and bliist her revel of glory; 
that no avenging muse, standing among the shrines of 
her departed greatness, and searching in vain for that 
which should mark her remembrance of one she should 
so devoutly hallow, shall have reason to sing of her as 
she has sung 

"Ungrateful Florence! Dante sleeps afar; 

And Scipio, buried by the upbraiding shore." 

Here, beneath the sunshine of the land he loved, and 
amid the scenes which '.e consecrated with his genius. 



41 

he will sleep well. Sadly, yet proudly will his fond 
foster-mother receive within her bosom to-day this 
cherished remnant of the child she nursed for fame ; 
doubly endeared to her, as he expired far away in a 
stranger land, beyond the reach of her maternal em- 
brace, and with no kindred eyes to light the gathering 
darkness of death, no friendly hand to soften his de- 
scent to the grave, no pious orisons to speed his spirit 
on its long journey through eternity. Gently, rever- 
ently let us lay him in this proud tabernacle, where he 
will dwell embalmed in glory till the last trump shall 
reveal him to us all radiant with the halo of his life. 
Let the Autumn's wind harp on the dropping leaves 
her softest requiem over him ; let the Winter's purest 
snows rest spotless on his grave ; let Spring entwine 
her brightest garland for his tomb, and Summer gild it 
with her mildest sunshine. Here let the marble min- 
strel rise to sing to the future generations of the Com- 
monwealth the inspiring lay of his high genius and his 
lofty deeds. Here let the patriot repair when doubts 
and dangers may encompass him, and he would learn 
the path of duty and of safety — an oracle will inhabit 
these sacred graves, whose responses will replenish him 
with wisdom, and point him the way to virtuous re- 
nown. Let the ingenuous youth who pants for the 
glories of the forum, and "the applause of listening 
Senates," come hither to tune his soul by those im- 
mortal echoes that will forever breathe about this spot 
and make its silence vocal with eloquence. And here 



42 

too let the soldier of liberty come, when the insolent 
invader may profane the sanctuary of freedom — here 
by this holy altar may he fitly devote to the infernal 
gods the enemies of this country and of liberty. 

We will now leave our departed patriot to his sleep 
of glory. And let no tear moisten the turf that shall 
wrap his ashes. Let no sound of mourning disturb 
the majestic solitude of his grand repose. He claims 
no tribute of sorrow. His body returns to its mother 
earth, his spirit dwells in the Elysian domain of God, 
and his deeds are written on the roll of Fame. 
"Let none dare mourn for him." 



ADDRESS OF COL. MARSHALL, 



UPON THB 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF CAPT. BALLARD. 



The public act directing these obsequies, embraces 
also the names of Capt. Bland Ballard and Elizabeth, 
his wile, late of Shelby county, among those whose re- 
mains are to find a resting place in this necropolis. 

They who conceived the idea of collecting in this 
cemetery the ashes of Kentucky's distinguished dead 
intended to confer a benefit upon the living, by pre- 
senting to their contemplation something to remind 
them of conspicuous examples of patriotism and vir- 
tue, worthy of imitation. 

It has been said 

"The evil that men do, lives after them. 
The good, is often interred with their bones." 

Surely then, a life may challenge admiration, which 
protracted far beyond the ordinary span of human ex- 



44 

istence, and mingled, in its eventful course, with the 
most memorable scenes in our country's history, has 
left no trace of wrong — no tradition of a dereliction 
from duty, either recorded in the public annals or re- 
tained in the recollections of men. Such a life was his, 
whose inanimate form elicits this public care, as an ex- 
pression of his country's gratitude. Let us dwell for 
a moment on his history, that we may correctly appre- 
ciate the lines of the picture presented by his life. 

Bland Ballard was born on the 16th of October, 1761, 
near Fredericksburg, Virginia, and emigrated thence to 
Kentucky with his father and father's family in 1779, 
being then just eighteen years of age. From the date 
of his emigration from Virginia and his own age at the 
time, it will at once be perceived that he cannot justly 
be classed among those earlier pioneers who blazed the 
path into the trackless wilderness, to plant on "the 
dark and bloody ground" the altars of christian civili- 
zation. 

The year 1779 opens the second chapter of Ken- 
tucky's history. Prior to that time the first fearful 
struggle with the savage had been encountered — posi- 
tions had been taken and maintained at a fearful cost 
of human life. Boonesborough, Saint Asaphs, or Lo- 
gan's Fort and Harrodsburg had already been established 
under the great leaders whose names they bear. The 
comprehensive genius of Clarke had already conceived 
and executed the idea of paralyzing the influence of 
Great Britain with the Indian tribes, by the reduction 



i5 

of the British posts on the Wabash. This bold strate- 
gic movement had covered the infant settlement in 
Kentucky from the blow meditated by the atrocious al- 
liance between Great Britain and the Indians, and af- 
forded to Kentucky a security which the Atlantic col- 
onies, convulsed as they were by the war of Indepen- 
dence, could not extend. Before 1779, the subsis- 
tence of the pioneer had been obtained by cultivating 
small patches of corn for the common use of the garri- 
son by the labor of all, and during this necessary toil, 
ceaseless vigilance and consummate valor were constant- 
ly in requisition to save the life of the husbandman from 
the Indian rifle or tomahawk. In 1779 the door of 
the court was first opened in Kentucky, and land was 
apportioned to proprietors in severalty. The path- 
way from the Atlantic slope to Kentucky was well 
opened, if not secure ; and hundreds besides the Bal- 
lards traveled it during that season. The aurora of 
civilization had already cast her beams over our wilder- 
ness, and the disc of Kentucky's political sun was al- 
ready visible above the horizon. Therefore, it would 
not be historically correct to claim for Bland Ballard 
a place on the same platform with Boone, Ben. Logan, 
and Harrod, although he was their contemporary, and, 
subsequently to 1779, mingled with them in the ad- 
venturous expeditions, which were undertaken to secure 
the peace of Kentucky. As accidental combinations 
often seem to draw individuals into conspicuous ranges 
of human action, securing celebrity for their names, so 



46 

circumstances sometimes conspire to force into the se- 
clusion of obscurity, qualities which would lead armies 
to victory or guide a state to renown. 

Captain Ballard was not indebted on any occasion 
to the favors of fortune for his celebrity. On the con- 
trary, his early life was one of incessant toil and hard- 
ship, peculiar even when exposure .was the inevitable 
lot of all, and of adventure remarkable for daring, 
when brave exploits were the ordinary exhibitions of 
camp and garrison. His rank and title as a military 
man were acquired only from a public confidence in his 
capacity as a soldier; and the legislative honors be- 
stowed upon him by the county of Shelby resulted 
from the conviction that his advice in council would 
be as sagacious as his action in the field had been gal- 
lant. He was not a man of letters; ye was he thor- 
oughly educated to the time and place in which the 
lines of his heritage were cast. Fortitude; valor; pa- 
tient endurance; physical and moral energy, quick to 
perceive danger and to apply the means to avoid or to 
overcome it; sagacious to learn the necessities of a 
young and exposed country, and to adopt a prompt line 
of action to meet every occasion; but, above all, a con- 
stant disposition to offer his life to the service of his 
country; to present his person at the post of danger; 
to volunteer his assistance in every expedition that 
was planned to punish her enemies and to avenge her 
wrongs; associated with a modesty which refused to 
press his name into the lists of ambition eager for pre- 



47 

ferment, were the qualities of character which made 
Bland Ballard a man of mark among the early set- 
tlers of Kentucky, and now entitle his name to stand 
before us as that of a representative man of those who 
are known to history as the "The Western Pioneers." 
I have said that circumstances would not justify us in 
assigning to him the same niche in the pantheon of 
history occupied by Boone, Ben Logan, or James liar- 
rod; but, without running the envious line of compar- 
ison between great names, all of whom present bright 
examples of the qualities which stamp heroism and 
patriotism as virtues, it may be assumed that the 
points of difference between Boone, Logan, Harrod, Har- 
din, Ballard, and others whose names I could mention, 
will serve only to multiply the models from which fu- 
ture times can study the moral lineaments of that great 
and noble race of men by whom this lovely land was 
won from the Indian, and by whom the foundations of 
our beloved Commonwealth were laid. 

In 1779 the great mass of settlers were intent on 
the acquisition of land; the energies of young Ballard 
were devoted to the protection of the country from its 
savage foe. The spirit of acquisitiveness had not touch- 
ed him. In that year we find him accompanying Col. 
Bowman on his fruitless and unfortunate expedition 
against the Indian town of old Chillicothe. If 1781 
he marched under Clarke to attack the Pickawa towns, 
and was wounded in action. Again, during the same 
year, he signalized his gallantry in an Indian fight on 



48 

Long Run, in the present county of Jefferson, and 
made his escape by shooting an Indian and seizing his 
horse, on which he fled, after the route of the whites 
was complete. He returned in Floyd's party to the 
rescue on the next day, and again was among those 
who survived the defeat on Floyd's fork. In 1782 he 
was under Clarke at the destruction of the Pickawa 
towns in Ohio. In 1786 he acted as a spy for Clarke 
on the expedition to the Wabash, and in 1794 he was 
present when Wayne routed the Indians at the Mau- 
mee rapids, which action closed the Indian wars con- 
nected with the early settlement of the western coun- 
try, and gave peace to the frontiers. When not en- 
gaged in regular campaign, he acted through several 
years as a ranger on the Ohio border, between the Lick- 
ing and Salt rivers. 

I have recited this service briefly to indicate to you 
its activity and extent, and to prove the school in which 
Mr. Ballard learned the duties of a soldier. Instan- 
ces may be easily selected, from the scenes in which he 
was an actor, to illustrate the qualities which shone con- 
spicuously in his character. I will mention a single 
one, because it displays his energy in bold relief 

On one occasion, while scouting alone some five miles 
beyone the Ohio, near the Falls, he was taken prisoner 
by a party of savages, and marched to their village, 
some thirty miles in the interior. The next day after 
his arrival, while the Indians were engaged in racing 
with horses they had stolen from the settlements, Bal- 



49 

LARD availed himself of a ftivorable moment to spring 
on the back of a fleet horse in the Indian camp and to 
fly for his life. The Indians gave immediate pursuit, 
but Ballard eluded them, and reached Louisville in safe- 
ty. This was an act not merely of daring; it displays 
other qualities: the vigilance, which detects at a glance 
the means of escape that chance offers for a moment 
only; the quick decision, which in that moment judges 
the tractability and fleetness of the animal and the 
means of eluding pursuit; the indomitable energy, which 
in that moment adopts and executes the resolution to 
place his life on the hazard of the die. The noble steed 
was ridden to death — the skiU of the woodsman baf- 
fled the subtle sons of the forest, and dashing into the 
broad Ohio, Ballard accomplished his freedom. Here 
are courage, judgment, rapid adaptation of means to a 
purpose, skin in execution of design, all displayed in 
a flight which has more elements of true poetry in it 
and quite as much of desperation, as Lord Byron has 
immortahzed in his story of Mazeppa. In 1788 the 
Indians assaulted the cabin of the Ballards near the lit- 
tle fort on Tick creek, in Shelby conuty. Bland Bal- 
lard on that occasion saw his father, step-mother, broth- 
er, and sisters murdered by the Indians. Horrible and 
appafling as was the scene, the nerves of the hardy 
backwoodsman were not unstrung, but he appealed for 
revenge to his rifle, and while the murders were perpe- 
trated he killed some six or seven of the murderers on 
the spot. 

7 



50 

Such were the extraordinary trials of his early life. 
There is no wonder that one who had learned to meet 
danger and to undergo trial in every form should be a 
popular favorite on the border in the young days of the 
republic. 

From the battle at the Rapids until 1812 Mr. Bal- 
lard was quietly occupied at his farm in Shelby coun- 
ty in the occupation — that noblest occupation of all — 
a republican tiller of the soil, earning an honest subsis- 
tence for his family by labor. When the war of 1812 
was declared, this patriot, already advanced far beyond 
the zenith of his years, was among the first to volunteer 
his services to march to the northern frontier, to face 
once more the old coalition of British and Indian in arms. 
He was elected Captain in the regiment of Colonel 
John Allen, and led a company from Shelby county. 

He was twice wounded at the disastrous battle of the 
Hiver Raisin, and was taken prisoner. Amidst the 
snows of that inhospitable climate he was marched from 
Maiden to Fort George, and was no more in the military 
service. 

I need not dwell on the details of Raisin to insure 
the appreciation of that service by every Kentucky 
audience. Kentucky yet mourns her chivalry sacrific- 
ed on that eventful day to inhuman massacre by a sav- 
age foe, through the dishonorable violation of his word 
by a British General! The inanimate remains of my 
venerable friend reposing here will appeal, with more elo- 
quence than language can command, to posterity against 



51 

that haughty power — our constant enemy — who paid 
gold for Kentucky scalps in 1778, and whose banners 
were eternally disgraced by the events of January, 1813. 
But I will not pursue the thoughts which are sug- 
gested by this portion of my theme. These obsequies 
forbid indulgence in the feelings the remembrance of 
our wrongs elicit. There are monuments in this inclo- 
sure which appeal to me with eloquent through silent 
emphasis, persuasive to the conclusion that the heroic 
blood of Kentucky has not been exhausted by the dis- 
tance it has flowed from its revolutionary sources. The 
day may yet come when our Eagle may again measure 
strength with the Lion, and Kentucky shall have an 
opportunity to prove to England, by a practical lesson, 
that mercy to the vanquished is the irrefragable custom 
of honorable war. 

The close of the war found Captain Ballard again 
on his farm in Shelby, nor did he again exchange the 
ploughshare for the sword. 

He repeatedly was elected to represent Shelby coun- 
ty in the Legislature of Kentucky, and acquitted him- 
self creditably of the trust, but he was never avari- 
cious of popular applause, nor did he offend the public 
taste by an exhibition of too ardent a desire for public 
honors. The remainder of his life was spent at the 
spot where he had first settled, beloved by his neigh- 
bors, and in 1853, at the age of ninety -four, his sun, 
whose rising was so obscured by the clouds of adversi- 
ty and war, sank to its sitting in an atmosphere bright- 



52 

ened by peace and prosperity, and serene from His assur- 
ance that there is a morrow beyond this grave in which 
its splendors shall shine eternal. 

The life I have thus hastily and imperfectly sketch- 
ed impresses the mind chiefly by the devotion to coun- 
try it continually displays; the freedom from avarice and 
a sordid desire to accummulation it exhibits; the mod- 
esty with which it throws off the harness of war after 
the public interest has been served; and the republican 
simplicity with which it retires to the obscurity of pri- 
vate avocations. But above all it is impressive from 
the bold relief in which the subject displays that self- 
reliance which is the individuality of personal indepen- 
dence, and which proclaims him as a pupil whose in- 
struction has been derived by communion in the soli- 
tude of the forest — in the great school of Nature — be- 
tween his own conscience and his Creator. 

Where will you seek on the page of history for the 
model from which this is an imitation? 

The Vatican in Rome has been made a repository for 
the collections of all the master pieces of art in sculp- 
ture and in painting. Far above all, the dying Gladi- 
ator stands peerless from the beauty of its simplicity. 
So it is amid historic pictures drawn from life. In all 
the fine integrity which constitutes the man, the pio- 
neer of Kentucky — the warrior of her forest days — chal- 
lenges the world for his superior. 

I might detail distinctions which separate him from 
the Puritan of New England, and from the followers of 



53 

Cortez who conquered in the South. He came with no 
religious peculiarities, derived from the schools, to im- 
press them upon our inffint institutions; he sought not 
to found his right to tread this virgin soil on any con- 
tract with the native son of the forest. 

He was not a hunter of pearls and precious stones, 
nor did he seek to proselyte an effeminate race of na- 
tives by treading them ruthlessly under the iron heel 
of relentless war, in order to convert them to a profes- 
sion of a creed which found its authority in the recesses 
of Imperial Rome. No. He came as a freeman, to 
occupy the forest— to use the bounties of nature— ^to 
enjoy the blessings of liberty of thought and action. 
He came as a Christian warrior, ready to assume the 
rights God had given him, and to maintain them. Of 
this class of nature's noblemen Bland Ballard is a fit 
illustration, as he was a noble specimen. 

It is said that the first scenes upon which the eye 
rests impress character upon the mind — that the moun- 
tain, the river, the lake, the lowland, affect the senses 
of man with their own peculiarities. Nations and States 
derive their characteristics from those who plant and 
mould their infancy. So, Kentucky should recognize 
in her early pioneers the qualities which have marked 
her character, as we behold the peculiarities of the Pu- 
ritan and the Spaniard to the north of our country, and 
in Mexico and South America. 

May our children imitate our own great originals in 
their patriotism, ther independence, and their purity. 



54 

Of Mrs. Ballard I have not spoken, because I only 
know of her that she was the companion of her hus- 
band through the early trials of his life, as well as the 
honored witness of his later honors. She was a noble 
specimen of those women who shared with the pioneer 
the dangers of the early settlement of our country — 
women who never added to the perplexities of their 
husband's fortunes by fear or misgivings as to results. 

" 'Twas hers to weave all thai she had of fair 
And bright into the dark meshes of their web, 
Inseparate from their windings;" 

And to find the refuge of her heart in a hero's love. 

Mrs. Ballard died in January, 1827, leaving surviv- 
ing her a family of children, some of whom are wit- 
nesses this day of the union of the ashes of their pa- 
rents by order of the State, and who will bear hence the 
proud consolation that Kentucky cherishes their mem- 
ories as part of the public jewels. 

In conclusion, fellow-citizens, when we have commit- 
ted these earthly remains of Kentucky's distinguished 
children to the bosom of our common mother, let us 
leave this consecrated spot with a firm determination 
to emulate in our own career their example of eloquence, 
official station, private life, and personal service, through 
prosperity and adversity — through war and peace — 
devoted to the public welfare with all the zeal of gen- 
uine patriotism. Thus may we also at our last hour 
hope that the gratitude of the Commonwealth will dec- 
orate our tombs with the patriot's laurel and the ap- 
plause of a free people. 



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